Ahhh....the post I have been delaying forever because I knew it would take so long to do. Well, here it is!
So, each year my family (my parents and siblings) has a family reunion, rotating among siblings. This year it was my brother Roger's turn. He and his family lived in Lake Oswego at that time--right outside of Portland. (They have since moved to Utah.) This trip we drove a little over 6400 miles in 11 days. One very exciting aspect of this trip is that I have now been to 47 states! We just have to get the rest of my kids caught up, along with Lee. Can you believe I've never been to Florida? Nope. Never. My parents even lived there with my four older siblings for a short time before I was born. But I've never been. Can you guess the other two? It's not hard, I promise. Although I've been to Canada and Mexico, I've never been to Hawaii or Alaska. Someday we'll check them off our list! I actually would LOVE to do a cruise to Alaska.
Back to the trip....I forgot my camera at Lois', as mentioned in my prior post. So these are some of the first pictures we took after we were in DC. On the way to Ely, Nevada, we stopped in Independence, Missouri for the day. July 3rd we left Harrisonburg around 8:30pm, and drove all night arriving in Independence at about 11:30am. Oh, on the way we stopped in Columbia, MO where Elden was born. We used the restrooms there (oh so nice and clean compared to gas stations!) and took a couple of pictures of Elden in front of the hospital. The pictures are on Lee's phone, so I need to get them off sometime.
Anyway, Lena met us at the Visitors' Center in Independence on the 4th, and we picked up Clark. After going on a tour there and eating lunch, we headed up to Liberty, MO where Joseph Smith and others were illegally imprisoned for a few months in horrible circumstances. After our tour there, we stopped at a grocery store. Lena got a few snacks for her family as they were camping in Independence and I bought ice cream bars for everyone. We left around 5:00pm for Utah. On the I-80 we saw some fireworks that night in Nebraska. It was sad traveling on the 4th, but it was a good day to do so as Lee would have had the day off anyway. On Friday we stopped at Little America at 6:30am and got ice cream cones (as per tradition growing up and now with my own family...not the buying of ice cream at 6:30 in the morning, but just getting ice cream no matter what time we passed through Little America). We stopped in Salt Lake City for the day, Lee and I went to the temple and hung out with Steph, Andy and Roger. We also went to City Creek by Temple Square. So fun! We decided to stop using our stroller and it was great not lugging that around. Everyone walked by themselves and didn't complain. Loved it. Roger got this photo of all my kids at the Apple store.
The next morning we were off and headed to Ely, Nevada where Lee grew up. We had a nice day visiting. One of Lee's sisters came to visit, Sue, along with one of his brother's, Carl. On Sunday we got to see the another brother, Kent. The kids LOVED the dirt bike rides with Lee. We hope to get a motorcycle someday soon!
Elden is riding in true Grandpa Robertson style. I forgot to bring his sneakers and didn't want him wearing flipflops while riding the dirt bike. I then brilliantly thought of his church shoes and socks. Better to get them dinged up than his toes. And Elden didn't fall off and Lee didn't crash, so the shoes were just fine.
We had a yummy barbeque that night in his parents' backyard. It was fun visiting with family and nieces and nephews. Shanna LOVES babies. Loves, loves, loves. Shanna had a fun time with her cousin's (Sara) baby. Not sure what Addie thought about it though! She is definitely a sweet, patient girl! Do you know what is funny? Sara is also a twin, and has a twin sister Hanna. Though I know that's not so abnormal, BUT Sara and Hanna come from a family that has the same birth order as us. Is that weird or what? So Lee and his brother Kent both have two boys, twins girls, and a boy. What are the odds?!
The tire swing is always a hit!
My kids loved playing with the tinker toys too. They had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa Robertson's house.
Here is Lee's mom along with nephew Nathan. Nathan is definitely a "cool" cousin. My kids think he's awesome. Well Nathan's coolness increased even more after we all went down to a laundromat that he owns, and he opened up the vending machine and gave each kid their own roll of lifesavers. From the vending machine! I even thought it was pretty fun. Thanks for humoring them Nathan. I often call him their uncle and have to remind myself that Nathan and my kids are cousins!
We went to church with them on Sunday and visited more. We also stopped and visited some of Lee's friends. We left about 11pm Sunday night and headed to Oregon. Thanks Mom and Dad R! We had a great visit. On the way to Oregon I finally was able to drive "all" night. I drove till about 5am and made it a little past Boise, Idaho before we switched.
Our first stop was Multnomah Falls outside of Portland for the start of the Bartholomew Reunion. Deb and family, Stephanie, and Roger and Family attended...along with us of course.
The reunion group!
Mt. Hood.
Next stop, Mt. Saint Helens. I was going to meet my good friend Ruth there, but I didn't check my email very much (which I should have) while traveling. After I got home to Virginia I saw her message she sent to me the Sunday we left for Oregon (still in Nevada) saying she would meet me at Mt. Saint Helen's. I should have done better contacting her. I still feel bad that we didn't meet up. We went to Mt. Saint Helen's later than originally planned. If we would have stayed with the initial plan, we would have met up with her. Sorry Ruth!!!
So to get into one of the visitor centers, each adult has to pay $9. Of course Lee and I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to pay or just leave. We decided to go ahead and stay. The movie about the explosion was very intense. I wished they would have shown more about what the people had to deal with than the geology involved with the explosion and subsequent explosions. It was fun seeing Mt. Saint Helen's though and now I can mark Washington off my list of states to visit.
A rainbow in a cloud: Chasing Fire Cloud.
We stayed in a yurt in Champoeg State Park in Oregon. I LOVED the yurt. It was great. The next day of the reunion we traveled to the coast. We stopped in Tillamook and went to the cheese factory. We had lots of yummy free cheese samples and a fun baby ice cream cone, plus bought some yummy ice cream cones.
I was planning on meeting up with another friend, Megan. It didn't workout, but we had a nice chat on the phone--that is who I am talking to on the phone.
We then headed to Rockaway Beach.
It was cold and windy, but some kids have tough skin!
Brittany took our yearly family photos there. Stay tuned...I'll reveal them in November/December, ha ha.
We all headed back to the yurts for dinner. We had yummy "walking tacos". I loved the pictures of Elden and Lexie. So funny.
Shanna also loved being with Lexie. Wish you guys lived closer!!!
I bought some glowsticks for the campground, and so glad I did. The kids loved them!
The next day we had a Portland day. Seriously, you all need to go to Portland! I loved it there. It would be a great place to live too. I actually just finished reading a culinary murder mystery book set in Portland--Josi Kilpack's Blackberry Crumble. (Check it out! She has a great series from Desert Book) We went up the aerial tram and got a view of the whole city.
Paul photo bombing our picture.
Paul not photo bombing our picture, ha ha. Maybe we made him queasy.
We contributed our weirdness to Portland!
Next we went to the International Rose Test garden. Very pretty! This picture is for you Megan. Just cross out the "e".
We found the place where my grandma Ruth and grandpa Anthon used to live when they were first married. They lived in a house, and rented out a bedroom. The house is no longer standing....but maybe I didn't have to point that out.
Later we stopped at Salt and Straw, a gourmet ice cream shop in Portland. I got cilantro lime strawberry cheesecake ice cream. So good!
We then did a driving tour in Portland and saw some points of interest, to us anyway. People doing yoga in the park....I should have been paying attention because we were driving by the smallest park in the world....and I missed it people watching. I was disappointed. Oh well, I'll have to go back to Portland someday!
The largest bookstore in the world.
And guess what?! My mom's book is there! (The White Dove.) Roger had been there a few months back and snapped this photo:
Voo Doo Donuts
The pizza and Jaguar picture weren't points of interest, just places we drove by....
Oh, and by Portland day, our camera battery went dead and we completely forgot to bring the charger. Probably because our camera was in transit to Nevada. Brittany let me use her iPhone for the day. It was SO FUN. I tried to get a picture of how absolutely messy our van was, but this photo didn't do it any justice, ha ha.
So the above picture isn't one we took. But while we were by Voo Doo donuts looking up how to get to the smallest park in the world, Lee saw an exotic dancers place. He thought it read exotic fabric and happily pointed it out to me. It was so funny.
\
After Portland day we spent the night at Roger's place swimming and enjoying the yummy pizza he made.
Riley LOVED Uncle Matt. I thought it was so cute.
Thanks Roger and Brittany for an awesome reunion! We seriously have to all go back again. I loved it. The next two days Roger and his family loaded up and headed to Utah!
On our way back we stopped in Elko, Nevada. Lee's sister Lynn let us spend the night. We had a nice visit, albeit short, and Marv took care of our van for us. Thanks Lynn and Marv! We headed over to Iowa to see my brother Sam and his wife Shawna and their boy Will. Our visit with them was also brief--about a half hour. (We stopped at both Little America's on the way home.) It was great seeing them and keeping true to his status, Sam spoiled the kids with a fun treat. After this trip we saw all but two siblings in Lee's family. And in the past couple of months I've seen all of my siblings, except one-though I did see his wife recently. Come visit Sheldon! We got back home around 5:00am on a Sunday morning. We slept for two hours then woke up and went to church. It was a very fun trip, and as always, not long enough.
So, each year my family (my parents and siblings) has a family reunion, rotating among siblings. This year it was my brother Roger's turn. He and his family lived in Lake Oswego at that time--right outside of Portland. (They have since moved to Utah.) This trip we drove a little over 6400 miles in 11 days. One very exciting aspect of this trip is that I have now been to 47 states! We just have to get the rest of my kids caught up, along with Lee. Can you believe I've never been to Florida? Nope. Never. My parents even lived there with my four older siblings for a short time before I was born. But I've never been. Can you guess the other two? It's not hard, I promise. Although I've been to Canada and Mexico, I've never been to Hawaii or Alaska. Someday we'll check them off our list! I actually would LOVE to do a cruise to Alaska.
Back to the trip....I forgot my camera at Lois', as mentioned in my prior post. So these are some of the first pictures we took after we were in DC. On the way to Ely, Nevada, we stopped in Independence, Missouri for the day. July 3rd we left Harrisonburg around 8:30pm, and drove all night arriving in Independence at about 11:30am. Oh, on the way we stopped in Columbia, MO where Elden was born. We used the restrooms there (oh so nice and clean compared to gas stations!) and took a couple of pictures of Elden in front of the hospital. The pictures are on Lee's phone, so I need to get them off sometime.
Anyway, Lena met us at the Visitors' Center in Independence on the 4th, and we picked up Clark. After going on a tour there and eating lunch, we headed up to Liberty, MO where Joseph Smith and others were illegally imprisoned for a few months in horrible circumstances. After our tour there, we stopped at a grocery store. Lena got a few snacks for her family as they were camping in Independence and I bought ice cream bars for everyone. We left around 5:00pm for Utah. On the I-80 we saw some fireworks that night in Nebraska. It was sad traveling on the 4th, but it was a good day to do so as Lee would have had the day off anyway. On Friday we stopped at Little America at 6:30am and got ice cream cones (as per tradition growing up and now with my own family...not the buying of ice cream at 6:30 in the morning, but just getting ice cream no matter what time we passed through Little America). We stopped in Salt Lake City for the day, Lee and I went to the temple and hung out with Steph, Andy and Roger. We also went to City Creek by Temple Square. So fun! We decided to stop using our stroller and it was great not lugging that around. Everyone walked by themselves and didn't complain. Loved it. Roger got this photo of all my kids at the Apple store.
The next morning we were off and headed to Ely, Nevada where Lee grew up. We had a nice day visiting. One of Lee's sisters came to visit, Sue, along with one of his brother's, Carl. On Sunday we got to see the another brother, Kent. The kids LOVED the dirt bike rides with Lee. We hope to get a motorcycle someday soon!
Elden is riding in true Grandpa Robertson style. I forgot to bring his sneakers and didn't want him wearing flipflops while riding the dirt bike. I then brilliantly thought of his church shoes and socks. Better to get them dinged up than his toes. And Elden didn't fall off and Lee didn't crash, so the shoes were just fine.
We had a yummy barbeque that night in his parents' backyard. It was fun visiting with family and nieces and nephews. Shanna LOVES babies. Loves, loves, loves. Shanna had a fun time with her cousin's (Sara) baby. Not sure what Addie thought about it though! She is definitely a sweet, patient girl! Do you know what is funny? Sara is also a twin, and has a twin sister Hanna. Though I know that's not so abnormal, BUT Sara and Hanna come from a family that has the same birth order as us. Is that weird or what? So Lee and his brother Kent both have two boys, twins girls, and a boy. What are the odds?!
The tire swing is always a hit!
My kids loved playing with the tinker toys too. They had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa Robertson's house.
Here is Lee's mom along with nephew Nathan. Nathan is definitely a "cool" cousin. My kids think he's awesome. Well Nathan's coolness increased even more after we all went down to a laundromat that he owns, and he opened up the vending machine and gave each kid their own roll of lifesavers. From the vending machine! I even thought it was pretty fun. Thanks for humoring them Nathan. I often call him their uncle and have to remind myself that Nathan and my kids are cousins!
We went to church with them on Sunday and visited more. We also stopped and visited some of Lee's friends. We left about 11pm Sunday night and headed to Oregon. Thanks Mom and Dad R! We had a great visit. On the way to Oregon I finally was able to drive "all" night. I drove till about 5am and made it a little past Boise, Idaho before we switched.
Our first stop was Multnomah Falls outside of Portland for the start of the Bartholomew Reunion. Deb and family, Stephanie, and Roger and Family attended...along with us of course.
The reunion group!
Mt. Hood.
Next stop, Mt. Saint Helens. I was going to meet my good friend Ruth there, but I didn't check my email very much (which I should have) while traveling. After I got home to Virginia I saw her message she sent to me the Sunday we left for Oregon (still in Nevada) saying she would meet me at Mt. Saint Helen's. I should have done better contacting her. I still feel bad that we didn't meet up. We went to Mt. Saint Helen's later than originally planned. If we would have stayed with the initial plan, we would have met up with her. Sorry Ruth!!!
So to get into one of the visitor centers, each adult has to pay $9. Of course Lee and I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to pay or just leave. We decided to go ahead and stay. The movie about the explosion was very intense. I wished they would have shown more about what the people had to deal with than the geology involved with the explosion and subsequent explosions. It was fun seeing Mt. Saint Helen's though and now I can mark Washington off my list of states to visit.
A rainbow in a cloud: Chasing Fire Cloud.
We stayed in a yurt in Champoeg State Park in Oregon. I LOVED the yurt. It was great. The next day of the reunion we traveled to the coast. We stopped in Tillamook and went to the cheese factory. We had lots of yummy free cheese samples and a fun baby ice cream cone, plus bought some yummy ice cream cones.
I was planning on meeting up with another friend, Megan. It didn't workout, but we had a nice chat on the phone--that is who I am talking to on the phone.
We then headed to Rockaway Beach.
It was cold and windy, but some kids have tough skin!
Brittany took our yearly family photos there. Stay tuned...I'll reveal them in November/December, ha ha.
We all headed back to the yurts for dinner. We had yummy "walking tacos". I loved the pictures of Elden and Lexie. So funny.
Shanna also loved being with Lexie. Wish you guys lived closer!!!
I bought some glowsticks for the campground, and so glad I did. The kids loved them!
The next day we had a Portland day. Seriously, you all need to go to Portland! I loved it there. It would be a great place to live too. I actually just finished reading a culinary murder mystery book set in Portland--Josi Kilpack's Blackberry Crumble. (Check it out! She has a great series from Desert Book) We went up the aerial tram and got a view of the whole city.
Paul photo bombing our picture.
Paul not photo bombing our picture, ha ha. Maybe we made him queasy.
We contributed our weirdness to Portland!
Next we went to the International Rose Test garden. Very pretty! This picture is for you Megan. Just cross out the "e".
We found the place where my grandma Ruth and grandpa Anthon used to live when they were first married. They lived in a house, and rented out a bedroom. The house is no longer standing....but maybe I didn't have to point that out.
Later we stopped at Salt and Straw, a gourmet ice cream shop in Portland. I got cilantro lime strawberry cheesecake ice cream. So good!
We then did a driving tour in Portland and saw some points of interest, to us anyway. People doing yoga in the park....I should have been paying attention because we were driving by the smallest park in the world....and I missed it people watching. I was disappointed. Oh well, I'll have to go back to Portland someday!
The largest bookstore in the world.
And guess what?! My mom's book is there! (The White Dove.) Roger had been there a few months back and snapped this photo:
Voo Doo Donuts
The pizza and Jaguar picture weren't points of interest, just places we drove by....
Oh, and by Portland day, our camera battery went dead and we completely forgot to bring the charger. Probably because our camera was in transit to Nevada. Brittany let me use her iPhone for the day. It was SO FUN. I tried to get a picture of how absolutely messy our van was, but this photo didn't do it any justice, ha ha.
So the above picture isn't one we took. But while we were by Voo Doo donuts looking up how to get to the smallest park in the world, Lee saw an exotic dancers place. He thought it read exotic fabric and happily pointed it out to me. It was so funny.
\
After Portland day we spent the night at Roger's place swimming and enjoying the yummy pizza he made.
Riley LOVED Uncle Matt. I thought it was so cute.
Thanks Roger and Brittany for an awesome reunion! We seriously have to all go back again. I loved it. The next two days Roger and his family loaded up and headed to Utah!
On our way back we stopped in Elko, Nevada. Lee's sister Lynn let us spend the night. We had a nice visit, albeit short, and Marv took care of our van for us. Thanks Lynn and Marv! We headed over to Iowa to see my brother Sam and his wife Shawna and their boy Will. Our visit with them was also brief--about a half hour. (We stopped at both Little America's on the way home.) It was great seeing them and keeping true to his status, Sam spoiled the kids with a fun treat. After this trip we saw all but two siblings in Lee's family. And in the past couple of months I've seen all of my siblings, except one-though I did see his wife recently. Come visit Sheldon! We got back home around 5:00am on a Sunday morning. We slept for two hours then woke up and went to church. It was a very fun trip, and as always, not long enough.
5 comments:
Great post, Ruth. Wish we could have been there. Love you guys. MOM
What a fun trip! I'm glad you got to see some fun places over here and visit some as well. I LOVE Powell's bookstore and the Rose Garden is always a hit. Next time you are here you'll have to hit up Sauvie Island as well, it's closer than the coast and the kids love swimming in the river. Of course my kids play in the ocean no matter what time of year we go out there. Whether it's a beautiful summer day or a windy winter day they get soaking wet. Oh and you'll have to camp at Cape Lookout, it's just south of Tillamook and right on the beach, well there is the campground and then a big dune and then the beach, it's perfect!
Wow wow wow--you guys are brave and looked like you had a blast. A motorcycle, huh? Michael would be jealous :-). And exotic fabric--awesome.
I love Portland. I want to live there too. Powell's is the best. I've been to a lot of those places the PNW is the best!
Wow, you guys are amazing to drive so far with the kids and to have such a great time. You all look so happy all the time, but with us we would be all tired and cranky after that much time in the car - and how did you get any sleep with driving all night so much? That's really neat that you got so see so much of your family. Glad you could go, and that Lee could be with you!
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